Proselytizers for Poetry Seek a Radio Voice for Verse

One is an ad man turned management consultant, the other an award-winning writer of international repute. Together, they have mounted an uphill campaign to bring the balm of poetry to Los Angeles’ often uncivil radio talk circuit.

What Edgar Hakim, the former ad man, and James Ragan, the poet, playwright and filmmaker who heads USC’s Professional Writing Program, have in mind is a radio show dedicated to poetry.

Listeners would be invited to call in to read a poem--their own composition or one they admire--or to discuss other works or poetry in general with a host, another caller or a guest. The aim of the proposed show, dubbed “Poet’s Corner,” would be enjoyment for a mass audience, not mental gymnastics just for eggheads.

“It wouldn’t be overly intellectual,” Hakim said. “We’d want the feelings to come through.”

The two men, who met at one of Ragan’s poetry readings about a year and a half ago, discussed their project over coffee, fruit and pastry one morning in the book- and antique-filled Westside bungalow Ragan shares with his wife and three children.

“I know from personal experience how poetry taps into people’s deepest emotions,” said Ragan, 54, who has traveled the world giving readings of his works.

In 1985, he was one of three Americans (the others were author Robert Bly and singer-songwriter Bob Dylan) to perform for then-Soviet President Mikhail S. Gorbachev at Moscow’s first international film festival during that country’s glasnost, or “openness,” movement. More recently, he hosted an award-winning poetry program on a Beverly Hills cable television channel and in April participated in a capacity-crowd forum on poetry at the Los Angeles Times Festival of Books at UCLA.

“I’m constantly witnessing the growing popularity of poetry in its myriad forms,” said Ragan. “People from all walks of life respond to it. . . . It gives people a badly needed chance to slow down and reflect on what they see around them.”

Hakim, 70, said he witnessed poetry’s power about a decade ago while hosting an open reading for fellow members of Mensa, a society for people with very high intelligence.

“This is a group of people who are often competitive, self-important and rude, but they were transformed into kind, courteous and extremely caring individuals as they listened to each other’s works and shared their feelings about the poems,” Hakim recalled. “I was amazed.”

He believes a poetry talk show would bring out the best in Southern California radio listeners as well.

“There is so much anger expressed today on talk radio. I think ‘Poet’s Corner’ would really mellow things out.”

There is no question that there has been a resurgence in popular poetry during the last decade or so, says Stephen Yenser, English professor and director of a creative writing program at UCLA.

Yenser cited the efforts by U.S. Poet Laureate Robert Pinsky to make poetry more accessible, and he pointed to a project of the Academy of American Poets, which last year produced an anthology of 101 great American poems and handed out free copies around the nation.

In addition, “poetry has a broader meaning than it used to,” Yenser said. Its forms now include “poetry slams,” contests in which a live audience votes by applauding its favorites.

Meanwhile, growing numbers of American universities have established graduate poetry programs, many of which have far more applicants than they can take. Poetry submissions are up at literary magazines and readings are well attended offerings at cafes, bookstores, university auditoriums and bars. Bookstores report that poetry sales are up.

But Hakim and Ragan say all this seems to have been lost on radio program directors. They have sent pitch letters, along with a possible format, to about half of Los Angeles’ 10 talk radio stations and to public radio KCRW-FM.

Listeners would be invited to call in. Guests would be poets or teachers. Ragan and Hakim did not suggest a program length or airing frequency.

Hakim got a brief meeting with only one radio chief and no takers for “Poet’s Corner.”

Hakim said his meeting with KFI-AM program director David Hall was cordial, but Hall told him he doubted that a poetry talk show would draw much of an audience.

A spokesman for KFI said such a program would not fit in with the station’s current-issues format.

“I like poetry, but I think the station would have a hard time getting an audience for it. I don’t think it’s what we do best,” said spokesman Mark Austin Thomas.

Ragan and Hakim can’t understand that.

“It would go a long way toward filling a programming void,” contends Ragan, whose experience in 1996 hosting a cable television show called “Poet’s Chamber” enhanced his belief in the concept’s appeal.

“The program presented poetry in an entertaining way,” said Ragan, who, in addition to the various literary honors he has garnered over the years, in 1997 was pronounced by Buzz magazine to be among the “100 Coolest People” in Los Angeles.

“I started to see a wonderful power and energy was there” before funding ran out and forced the show’s demise, he said.

“This is an opportunity for a [commercial] station to distinguish itself by serving the needs and elevating the taste of the community,” Hakim asserts.

He and Ragan say they will continue to push for such a talk show. Hakim says he next plans to seek a financial sponsor from among Los Angeles’ arts institutions, and he will continue knocking on radio station doors.

Asked if they would like to hear “Poet’s Corner” in a drive-time slot, the concept’s co-creators reveal that they are of different minds.

“Poetry is so soothing, it might mellow drivers out a little too much,” Hakim worries. “Sunday afternoon or late evening would be more appropriate.”

But Ragan believes poetry’s calming effect might be just the ticket for stressed-out commuters. Besides, he’s not about to get fussy over a time slot at this stage of the game.

“Any time would be fine,” says Ragan. “We can’t be that particular; we just want [poetry] to reach a greater audience.”